"dangerous Dogs' - 7.30 Report This Week

[RIPWillow]

Have just seen a promo for this week's '7.30 Report' on ABC 1 - there will be a story about 'dangerous dogs'. Not sure which night, as they didn't say. Let's hope it's not the sort of sensationalist rubbish the commercial networks would run.

[NorthernStarPits]

I will watch with one eye open, and the other one half asleep

[RIPWillow]

It's tomorrow night (Tuesday) apparently.

[grumpette]

The 7.30 Report tonight (Tuesday 20th January) is running a story about Dangerous Dogs, how to prevent dogs bites and they are including policy comments from the RSPCA regarding licensing owners of so called dangerous breeds.

The footage that I saw showed APBTs and Rottweilers being taken away by rangers after attacks.

Worth watching just to be prepared for the hysterical reactions likely to be generated in the general community afterwards.

[mita]

I hope the program will look at the background of dogs that finished up being 'dangerous' to someone.

That dog has been 'produced' by humans. How humans bred it, socialised it, took it into their particular lifestyle, trained it, managed it. The list could go on.

Dogs are made 'dangerous' by humans. Just like bridges that fall down are made by humans who didn't build them properly.

I believe that an RSPCA person will say he'd like a system of licencing.

But they'll have to be ready for the fact that many dogs involved in serious bites or attacks are owned by people who do not even register their dogs.

I didn't make that up.....there's research which shows that's one of the 'risk' signs.

And also that an owner has a lot of traffic offences.

Truly! Both 'at risk' signs are pointing to people who don't have a sense of reponsibility....& most of all, don't think about consequences. Which would extend to how they raise, socialise, & manage the dog.

Edited January 20, 2009 by mita

[The Spotted Devil]

On now

[mita]

Disappointing....because it's still going on about weeding out the 'dangerous breeds'....& how to tell which mixed-breeds have 'dangerous breeds' in them.

Why doesn't any of the research-based information about dogs & aggression and the contributions of human behavour.....get into public discourse?????

Edited January 20, 2009 by mita

[BigBen]

Because it's easier and faster to ban the breeds than it is to ban stupid humans from having these dogs... and you can't tell the difference between stupid people and us.. :thumbsup:

Edited January 20, 2009 by BigBen

[NorthernStarPits]

The 7.30 Report tonight (Tuesday 20th January) is running a story about Dangerous Dogs, how to prevent dogs bites and they are including policy comments from the RSPCA regarding licensing owners of so called dangerous breeds.

The footage that I saw showed APBTs and Rottweilers being taken away by rangers after attacks.

Worth watching just to be prepared for the hysterical reactions likely to be generated in the general community afterwards.

I missed it, thats strange that the RSPCA said that though, because we are allready licenced, we pay for the restricted breed licence, a bit behind the ball me thinks I would have liked to hear what they really meant though .

[DeltaCharlie]

Transcript from show

[NorthernStarPits]

Cool I dont think I missed much at all. same ole same ole.

Dog laws under the spotlight

Print

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 20/01/2009

Reporter: Danielle Parry

When man's best friend turns deadly - should owners be held responsible for dog attacks?

Transcript

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: It's estimated Australia has almost four million pet dogs - one of the highest rates of ownership in the world.

It's also estimated thousands of people across the country require hospital treatment each year as a result of dog attacks, most of them children.

The nation's dog laws are once again under the spotlight after a three year old girl was mauled to death in rural New South Wales earlier this month.

Some experts say the answer lies in tighter laws to eliminate aggressive cross breads before they pose a danger but the RSPCA argues it's not the dogs, but the dog owners who should be held accountable.

This report from Kirsten Murray and Danielle Parry.

My sons all raced past and I couldn't make out what it was and somebody told me that the dogs attacked this little girl.

KIRSTEN MURRAY, REPORTER: When Ruby-Lea Burke and her sister arrived at their babysitter's house in the tiny Riverina town of Whitton there was no inkling of the tragedy that was soon to follow.

Within minutes the two young girls were mauled by four pet dogs; a savage attack which left the three-year-old dead and her 15-month-old sister injured.

Although their father issued a statement saying no one was to blame, the attack has put the issue firmly on the national agenda.

MICHAEL DALEY, ACTING NSW LOCAL GOVT. MINISTER: The Government has done its bit and has introduced the toughest, dangerous dog laws in the nation.

But we'll take advice from the experts and see if there's anything more that can be done and if there's anything more that can be done the Government, I assure you, will do it.

GENIA MCCAFFERY, PRESIDENT, LOCAL GOVT ASSOC NSW: We really do, I think, need to get serious about banning dogs that do have a history of attacks on humans and it's no good having one law in New South Wales and a different one in Victoria.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: Laws at the federal, state and council level govern dog importation, ownership and safety. Some believe it's time for a uniform national approach to dog controls.

STEVEN COLEMAN, RSPCA NSW: Even just in New South Wales alone with the amount of councils within New South Wales alone there is confusion and, I believe, a level of inconsistency about the way that local government, or companion animal legislation, is actually enforced.

We've got dangerous animals moving from one state to another where there's inconsistent requirements to house those animals, so again, it's a recipe for disaster.

GENIA MCCAFFERY: You've got to have consistency across the states and, yes, the national laws are the way to go.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: Police were forced to open fire on a pack of dogs after they attacked and then bailed up their owner in this Western Sydney house in 2004.

Pit Bull crosses were responsible for this attack. It's long been illegal to import Pit Bulls into Australia and they're now banned from breeding in most states.

BOB CARR, FORMER NSW PREMIER: Mr Speaker a Pit Bull is a killing machine on a leash.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: But cross breads of restricted dogs like Pit Bulls remain an issue.

WAYNE ASPLET, ST GEORGE ANIMAL RESCUE: The loophole is basically with the crossbreeding because you don't have to name what it's crossed with.

When you go to register your animal you put down whatever it in the mix and people know this so they don't put the restricted part in.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: Wayne Asplet has been an animal management officer for three Sydney councils since the 1980s. He says dangerous crossbreeds are slipping through the net because owners lie about their pet's parentage.

And he says many council rangers aren't trained well enough to identify dogs that are a potential threat.

WAYNE ASPLET: People go out and the people doing their job may not realise what they're looking at or they don't understand what they're doing, and it's not their fault because they've never been trained.

GENIA MCCAFFERY: I think it's an incredible impost on our ranges to say to them, I mean, to be almost trained vets.

And with a lot of the Cross breeds it's extremely difficult to identify whether they've got this dangerous breed in them.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: This Queensland grandfather and grandson know only too well the trauma caused by a dog attack.

In 2006 when Rhys Niven was 11, he was mauled by a Rottweiler in suburban Rockhampton.

DAVID NIVEN, FATHER: The dog caught hold of Rhys and threw him into the air and left a couple of jagged holes in his inner thigh that required upwards of 42 stitches.

RHYS NIVEN, VICTIM OF DOG ATTACK: Really deep wounds in the leg - thigh area. A lot of blood. That's all I really remember about it. I didn't really look when I got bitten, I didn't want to look at the stitches.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: The recent attack in the Riverina has prompted them to join councils in a plea for dog owners to lift their game.

DAVID NIVEN: My thoughts go out to those people, and my wish is for everybody with dogs to be very careful and make sure they're properly enclosed and if they're a troublesome dog, well seek help in controlling that dog.

GENIA MCCAFFERY: We seem to be constantly wanting, sort of, nanny-state stuff. We constantly want the state to fix the problems that we have. But if you have a dog and you know it's got a dangerous breed in it, you should be responsible and you should make sure that that dog is properly contained and can't be accessed by young children.

That is your responsibility.

JANIKE CHUDLEY: Sit. Good dog.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: Janike Chudley takes her responsibilities as a dog owner very seriously. She takes her animals on a 5km walk every day, they're socialised with other dogs and always watched around children.

JANIKE CHUDLEY, DOG OWNER: We have a lot of young children coming over through the family and so it's important that my dogs know the right behaviour.

PETER HIGGINS, DOGS NSW: They've already been for their walk?

KIRSTEN MURRAY: Peter Higgins is a vet and spokesman for Dogs NSW, the state's peak body for breeders.

He thinks teaching owners how to properly control their dogs would be more effective that tougher legislation, and he says owners should be offered a carrot to sign up for training.

PETER HIGGINS: I think the Governments around Australia should get together and offer incentives for dog owners, like, perhaps reduced costs for registration of dogs.

STEVEN COLEMAN: We would agree with that and we'd probably go one step further - we've talked about this for many, many years and some would say, some critics would say, that this is absolutely outrageous - but if people had to be licensed to own a dog the RSPCA would totally support that sort of approach.

GENIA MCCAFFERY: I'd be very concerned about us asking every single dog owner to licence their dog when it's only a very small number of breeds that seem to be consistently attacking humans and we're kind of blaming all dogs for those small percentage of breeds that do have this aggressive behaviour.

KIRSTEN MURRAY: And that's the challenge facing governments across the country; balancing the rights of responsible dog owners like these against the danger posed by a small minority who are flouting the law.

STEVEN COLEMAN: What's important is, once the dust has settled once again, that we stay objective, we stay balanced and try and make decisions excluding emotion, so that in the end we come out with a better result for both animals and their owners.

ALI MOORE: That report produced by Danielle Parry.

[Nekhbet]

you can watch the video on the website. Bit of a filler really

[Sea Siren]

Naturally, as soon as ANY breed of dog attacks the focus is yet again on pit bulls.

How about they do a proper, full report because i would really like to see the statistics on what breeds really do account for the attacks and what other factors they have in common (namely, young, male, entire dog).

it sucks for the responsible owners out there.

[mita]

Because it's easier and faster to ban the breeds than it is to ban stupid humans from having these dogs...

You're not wrong, BigBen.

In every other area of public safety, the authorities look at the role of humans in causing the problems.

If road safety followed the same principle of banning..... there'd be no holding drivers responsible for accidents. Just ban the make of car.

And no holding people responsible for making/ driving an unsafe or unroadworthy car. Just confiscate the car to a holding yard. And then shoot it.